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Dubbed "our pre-game show" by regular co-host Joe Kernen,[1]Squawk Box features early-morning analysis of and breaking news from the financial markets, along with considerable banter between the hosts and their guests – original host Mark Haines stressed the need to "inject a little fun" into business news in the early morning.[1] Another distinctive and long-running feature of the show has been its use of daily "guest hosts" – figures from the world of business and politics who join the team for much of the broadcast, questioning guests as well as offering their own opinions.

Squawk Box’s core on-air team remained intact for many years – the program was originally presented by New Jersey lawyer Mark Haines, along with in-studio reporters Joe Kernen, David Faber and Maria Bartiromo at the New York Stock Exchange. CNBC's senior economics reporter Steve Liesman also became a frequent contributor. Alexis Glick joined the team as senior trading correspondent in May 2003,[2] while Bartiromo stepped down from her position in 2004 to concentrate on other duties.[3]Rebecca Quick later replaced Glick as a reporter.

For many years the program covered the opening bells of the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Stock Market at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Other regular segments included the Squawk Exchange, where the team (particularly Faber and Kernen) shared banter on various topics, On the Box (rapid-fire summaries of the day's headlines) and Joe's World, where Kernen sounded off on the day's notable stock stories.

During the period when CNBC's online presence was housed at MSN Money, the show held its own daily Squawk Back Poll on the website, where viewers voted on a topical issue. In May 2005 the program established its own blog on Windows Live Spaces, called SquawkBlog, where the program hosts posted their thoughts, although this is no longer in use.

The program underwent a significant revamp on December 19, 2005, with the show moving to the 6:00 am ET timeslot and Kernen, Quick and Carl Quintanilla helming a new tri-anchor format alongside on-air editor Charles Gasparino. Haines and Faber moved to a newly created program, Squawk on the Street, anchored from the NYSE by Haines and Erin Burnett with Faber at CNBC headquarters. As a result of these changes, coverage of the market open at 9:30am ET passed to Squawk on the Street. The "guest host" feature of Squawk Box was dropped immediately after the revamp but later reinstated.

There was a significant amount of initial negative feedback about the changes made to Squawk, most notably the removal of Mark Haines from the team.[4] On the Squawk Box blog, over 200 complaints were entered into the site, along with numerous messages posted on the CNBC message board.[5]

On July 8, 2011, Quintanilla left Squawk Box to become part of the new Squawk on the Street anchor team, following Haines' death on May 24 of that year. His new assignment began three days later, when he debuted with Melissa Lee and Simon Hobbs. Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times, joined Kernen and Quick in order to succeed Quintanilla's anchoring duties. Sorkin made his debut as co-anchor July 18, 2011.[6]

On October 13, 2014, Squawk Box, along with CNBC's other trading-day shows, were launched in full 1080i high-definition as part of a network-wide switch to a full 16:9 letterbox presentation on that same day.

On January 7, 2015, Squawk Box moved to a new street-side studio in New York City after almost 2 decades in New Jersey (at CNBC's original facilities in Fort Lee from its August 7, 1995 debut to October 10, 2003 and at CNBC's current facilities in Englewood Cliffs from October 13, 2003 to January 6, 2015).

In Asia, the show is aired in its entirety on CNBC Asia from Mondays to Fridays (vary between time to time during U.S. Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time). Also, it can be air in New Zealand from Tuesdays to Saturdays during Daylight Saving Time when U.S. is on Eastern Standard Time.

Among the above, Squawk Box Europe and Asia Squawk Box are the counterparts which resemble the original Squawk Box the most:

They are all three hours in duration.

They all have a guest host appearing on the show, mostly after the first hour.

In addition, Maria Bartiromo has served as a guest co-anchor on both Squawk Box Europe and Asia Squawk Box.

(Karen Tso moved to the Asian version of Squawk Box (and was based in Singapore) and after Amanda Drury briefly replaced Tso on Squawk Australia, Oriel Morrison moved into that role in 2010 while Drury is now based in CNBC World Headquarters in the U.S.). Tso moved to the European version of Squawk Box after joining CNBC Europe in 2011.

150,221 players participated in the Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio Challenge, a stock-picking contest that ran from April 4, 2006 through May 26, 2006. The winner of the Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio Challenge, which was announced live at the end of the 2 June 2006 episode, was Thomas Ko of California. His $5,015,735 portfolio value outpaced all the other contenders. He was also the winner of a brand-new, limited-production, 2006 Maserati GranSport.